UN report finds Canada not doing enough to stop violence against aboriginal women

[IndigeNews]

UN report finds Canada not doing enough to stop violence against
aboriginal women
By TIFFANY CRAWFORD, VANCOUVER SUN April 30, 2013

Canada needs a national strategy to combat violence against indigenous
women and girls, says a United Nations summary report on human rights.

The United Nations Human Rights Council has adopted the report on the
Universal Periodic Review of Canada’s human rights record, which
included recommendations from several countries.

The report, released in Geneva today, summarizes Canada’s UPR — a
global accountability process that monitors a country’s compliance with
international human rights laws. All UN member countries undergo such a
review every four years.

Recommendations included establishing a national centre for missing
persons and unidentified remains, police task forces to investigate
cases and community safe plans.

Human Rights Watch, a New York-based watchdog, said the report shows
the federal government has failed to adequately address the high number
of murders and disappearances of aboriginals over the last four
decades.

“It is not surprising that violence against indigenous women and girls
figured so prominently in the discussion of Canada’s human rights
record,” said Liesl Gerntholtz, women’s rights director at Human Rights
Watch, in a statement Tuesday.

“It reflects the persistent insecurity faced by women and girls, the
urgent need for a public accounting of what has gone wrong for so long,
and a robust national plan for addressing it going forward.”

In response to the report, the federal government defended its record
Tuesday, noting it has introduced legislation to try to ensure families
on reserves have similar rights as other Canadians.

"The proposed legislation will address violence against individuals
living on reserve, especially Aboriginal women and their children, by
allowing courts emergency protection orders to remove a violent partner
from the home," said Andrea Richer, press secretary to Aboriginal
Affairs Minister

Bernard Valcourt.

A scathing report released in February by Human Rights Watch accused
some police officers of harshly mistreating native women and girls in
northern B.C.

That report contained unproven allegations by several northern B.C.
women and girls who say they were abused physically or sexually by
police.

In February, the federal government established an all-party committee
in Canada’s House of Commons to hold hearings on the issue of missing
and murdered indigenous women and propose solutions to address root
causes of violence.

Human Rights Watch said while the move is a step in the right
directions, it is not a substitute for a national commission of inquiry
with independent powers beyond those of a parliamentary committee.

ticra...@vancouversun.com

with files from Lori Culbert
© Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun

Original source article: UN report finds Canada not doing enough to
stop violence against aboriginal women
http://www.vancouversun.com/life/
report+finds+Canada+doing+enough+stop+violence+against+aboriginal+women/
8315408/story.html

[image] Demonstrators rally in front of the missing women's monument on
Jan. 3, 2010, in Vancouver's Crab Park. The activists were
demonstrating to bring attention to the more than 500 aboriginal women
missing across the country. Photograph by: Ward Perrin, PNG Files ,
Postmedia News

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/life/
report+finds+Canada+doing+enough+stop+violence+against/8315408/
story.html
<========<< o >>========>
IndigeNews - Indigenous News Service
News about / by / for Indigenous Peoples
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/indigenous-news/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/wabanaki-news/